By its very nature, surgery can expose the surgeon to injury. When the surgeon dissects, sutures, staples or removes tissue, the surgeon will necessarily be using his hands within close quarters and near cutting instruments. Naturally, because the hands are working within tight constraints, there is the likelihood of their being subjected to these surgical cutting instruments during surgery. This is far more likely to occur within close constraints than during cutting in an open environment. Naturally, because the patient may be infected with viruses or bacteria, these hands may encounter these germs internally upon piercing by the surgical instrument.
For this reason, surgeons have worn protective coverings on their hands. These protective coverings must possess two necessary characteristics. First, the protective covering must be rigid to actually protect the hand from being cut during surgery. Conversely, the protective covering must also permit a wide range of flexibility and dexterity, to allow the surgeon to perform surgical procedures.
This combination has been quite difficult to achieve. The generally thin pliable latex gloves commonly worn by surgeons allow for a high degree dexterity, but are quite thin. These latex gloves generally will not withstand piercing by instruments such as surgical scalpels. This is especially true concerning areas of the hand more subject to piercing by surgical instruments, such as the back of the hand near the knuckles and the meat of the palm generally below the thumb. Thus, while these latex gloves will afford some protection, especially from allowing the skin to contact blood during surgery, these surgical gloves will not insure against self-wounding by the surgeon.